Jared Allen celebrates in a game against Denver in 2011. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

This question comes via email from Chris Hatfield, and with the trade deadline looming on Tuesday, it’s a good one.

To start off, I’m going to cross two of these names off of the list: Adrian Peterson and Joe Thomas. Here’s why:

I don’t think the Vikings are trading Peterson. I also don’t think the amount of money he commands would make any sense for this pass-happy Broncos team. Peterson is signed through 2017, making $11.75 million in 2014; his contract escalates from there, all the way up to $15.75 million in 2017. Sure, any team would love to have Peterson, the best running back of his generation, but he comes at a price, and it’s not a price the Broncos would be willing to pay. Also, in case y’all haven’t noticed, Knowshon Moreno is doing a perfectly decent job in the role he’s been asked to play.

The other name I’m crossing off is Thomas. Guys, Thomas plays left tackle. As in Ryan Clady’s position. That wouldn’t be an issue if he had an expiring deal, but he’s signed through 2018, and as Mike Klis pointed out in his mailbag this week, what are the Broncos supposed to do, stash one of them on the bench? Clady just signed a big contract extension through 2017, and to put the kind of money Thomas commands toward a weakness that will be just fine once Clady recovers — and really might be fine once Orlando Franklin returns — would be downright silly.

The final name, Jared Allen, makes the most sense of the group. I worked in Minneapolis for two years before I came to Denver, and I saw firsthand what a great player Allen is. He’s also on an expiring deal — and the Vikings have already paid half of his 2013 salary — which makes this an even more interesting proposition. It would be a rent-a-player situation in every sense of the word, and even if it might make sense on paper, it seems almost premature, seeing as Von Miller has been back for exactly one game. Even so, the Broncos don’t have the luxury of time, so if they’re going to make a defensive trade, they’re going to have to hold their breath and just do it. It’ll take money, and it may take renting a player like Allen.

So if you put a gun to my head and told me they had to trade for one of these three players, I’d pick Allen. He’s what the Broncos need most: defensive help. However, there are other players out there with cheaper price tags who could be valuable trade pieces. My colleague Mark Kiszla suggested Jacksonville’s Jason Babin a few weeks ago, and that’s not a terrible proposition either. Sure, his numbers aren’t Allen’s, but he plays for the godawful Jaguars. Plus, he makes significantly less than Allen, and so the Broncos wouldn’t have to mortgage quite as much of their future to get him. The question is, of course, how much help the Broncos will need once Miller is back in game shape, which should be soon.